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Everyone should read Gullivers Travels. Bought for my daughter to read. If your only experience of Gullivers Travels is the popular image of his visit to Lilliput ....or even worse the Jack Black film (aaaargh!!) ....then you must read this intelligent and thoroughly entertaining book. Cannot recommend enough. You will not be disappointed! And if you thought a yahoo was a search engine you should definitely get reading!!

I have always been aware of the name of this book, but had no real idea as to what the content was about. So, I set about to broaden my horizons, and I am glad that I did. Compared to other classics, the language is a lot easier to read, which is surprising given the age of the book.

Broken down into 4 parts, most people would be familiar with Liliput in part 1. I was under the misconception that the book was about that and nothing else. The following 3 parts I had no idea existed. Part 2 sees Gulliver as the small person as opposed to the giant in Part 1. Part 3 involves a flying island and Part 4 the Houyhnhnms, that I still struggle to pronounce.

There is a lot of satire to this book, which was often lost on me, but as a book it is a good read and as it is free, you have nothing to lose.

I enjoyed the more famous chapters about the hero being the prisoner and later the guest of miniature people, and then later being the pet and exhibit of giants. I also enjoyed the sections where he lands up at a country where horses are in charge and yahoos (uncivilized and savage humans) provide the power and transport.However, I was conscious of not knowing enough about late Stuart politics and philosophy to understand a lot of the satire.

"Gulliver's Travels" is one of those books that is instantly recognisable by name. Unfortunately, of those relatively few people that have read it, many are only aware of the first section of the book (the visit to Lilliput), and even then they miss the bitingly accurate social commentary that is woven into the tale.

Swift was making some extremely harsh comments about the society in which he lived; and I would suggest that much of his satirical writing could be seen to be as accurate today as it was at the time of Queen Anne. Certainly I suspect that he would recognise a similar corruption in modern politics, the law, medicine and social behaviour that he knew and despised some 3 centuries ago.

The book is fairly easy to read; for best understanding, it would be worth doing so in short bursts and probably by re-reading sections. Some of the satire is easy to miss, such as the concept of the "low" and "high" heel parties, and the man who wears a pair of shoes that have one high and one low heel; he finds it difficult to walk the line between the two political views. In other cases, it is a belligerent statement of contempt, such as the behaviour of the "Yahoos" in the land of the "Houyhnhmm" (pronounced Winnim") and the comparison to human society.

The story could be read as a childrens tale of fantastical adventures and nothing more; but re-reading it later in life can reveal an amusing, albeit harsh reflection of human foibles.

"Gulliver's Travels" was written by Jonathan Swift in 1726, with a satirical purpose and with time turned into a classic and a children's book. Because of that duality the novel can be appreciated by everyone ("it is universally read, from the cabinet council to the nursery").

The book is centered in the character of the name Lemuel Gulliver (from what I remember his first name is mentioned only once in the whole book). From 1699 to 1715 he makes four travels that start off in ruin, he shipwrecks, gets abandoned or kicked out of the boat. From those unfortunate situations he gains the knowledge of five distinctive societies, and of them there's one who makes an interesting use of "intelligence".

One of the strengths of this novel is the constant contrasts of small/big and more importantly contrast of stupid/smart. From what I experienced, that allows you to understand better all the nuances of the novel.

Something I didn't quite enjoyed was the fact that when Gulliver went missing from years at end, his family just waited and when he finally got home his family (especially the wife) didn't stop Lemuel from traveling again. Maybe that was how things worked before, but that is just too passive.

As Gulliver travels more, he gets more cynical and fact he ends up as a person who hates everyone. Instead of having a boardened horizon, it's the opposite. I don't agree with that and nowadays it's a counterintuitive notion.

The upside of "Gulliver's Travels" is the ever present comparative study of Europe and any other of the strange societies, something that today could be used as a wake-up call the world so much needs.

However, behind the fantastical cover up, there's always Swift's critic to the way of governing Europe and the mess it was at the time. There's actually lots of pages of discussions between characters, regarding that same subject.

Often considered a book for children,and adapted for the screen as such,Swift's work is a masterful satire on the mores,politics and society of 18th century Britain.You must not miss reading the original.